Dinghy Maintenance

This morning I noticed that Stolen Kisses had left. I had a short chat Cheryl on the VHF radio and was happy to hear that they were off for only a few days at the islands and will be returning. They expect to remain in the La Paz area until the end of May.

After doing some laundry and hanging it up to dry I headed for the dinghy dock with brushes, pads, etc for cleaning the bottom of the Zodiac. I also took the empty fuel container for the Mercury outboard motor.

It was 11 AM Sunday and The Docks cafe was going full pelt with customers but I didn't have the inclination to be furtive about what I was going to do. I unloaded the Zodiac, removed the Mercury outboard motor, then hauled the Zodiac in full view of the restaurant. I cleaned the inside of the Zodiac then flipped it over and faced the bottom. I got to it not one day too soon. Among the general fuzz there were tufts of vegetation that were very difficult to dislodge. There were several barnacles of the size of half a thumbnail but there must have been scores of tiny ones that had recently homesteaded and were planning a bright future.

While I was working an elderly man with his dog arrived in their dinghy and I immediately handed him the water hose telling him that he had first priority. Then he patiently worked his dinghy past my Zodiac and tied up. That left his dog at my end of the Zodiac and I had to pass him over. After the cleanup I pumped more air into the Zodiac and felt very good about the result. After that I went to the gas station to fill up my container of unleaded gas for the Mercury outboard motor.

Not long after I arrived back at Pachuca I got a very welcome visit from Bob - Bob Carroll. With the anchor well empty I was able to show him the setup and we discussed the drainage problem.

Back at the cockpit Bob said that he had been thinking about the problem of how to fasten the halyard when jumping it at the mast and ... Instantly I saw the solution: a jam cleat fixed to the mast, which was exactly what he was about to tell me. (There must be some sort of telepathy in human interaction.) After some discussion I settled on passing the main halyard through one of those cleats locked down by a lever. Once the lever is down the rope can pass down but not up. So I would raise the mainsail by jumping the halyard at the mast and the cleat would hold the line and allow me to return to the cockpit to take up the slack with the winch.

Bob (pictured at right) also offered a simple solution to the problem of cleaning the bottom of the Zodiac. He takes his dinghy a beach on the Magote peninsula and cleans it there using sea water. (Now why didn't I think of that? To simple, I guess - no, to focused on the marina. Gotta think outside of the box!)

After Bob left I had what Arnold calls a "ladder bath" by immersing myself in the water wearing my underpants and T-shirt while hanging on the boarding ladder. Being alone at the end of the anchorage has its advantages. After rinsing with fresh water that I had warmed in the sun I rinsed off my underclothes and walked to the foredeck completely starkers to hang up the wet clothes and take down of the line a fresh set to put on.

How did it feel to be on a boat in the glorious, sunny, dry, cool afternoon breeze of La Paz? The answer, my friend, was blowing in the wind.